One advantage of digital cameras is that they include a display so that a user can see an image after it is taken. The display can also be used for a “live preview” of the image before it is taken. Many digital cameras do not include an optical viewfinder, but rely entirely on the display for framing the image to be taken. When using the display as a viewfinder, a high frame rate is desired for easily framing the image without annoying image lag. The exposure and aperture settings used for the preview mode are chosen to maximize the frame rate, and are usually nothing like the settings for the final exposure.
It would be desirable to use the display to truly judge what the final image will look like. Unfortunately, this is at odds with the current practice of using the display as a viewfinder. Also, current display technology does not provide adequate image quality to do much more than coarsely frame the image. Advances in image technology, such as microdisplay and organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays make electronic viewfinding more practical and commonplace. On the other hand, this alone does not meet the need for a true WYSIWYG preview capability for digital cameras.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,006 discloses a “method for previewing a scene before actual capture by a motion-picture camera for permitting improved creative control of the scene ultimately captured by the motion-picture camera, the method comprises the steps of providing a digital representation of the scene; mapping the digital representation through a transfer function which maps the digital representation to image data representative of image data that a predetermined film will create; providing the mapped image data to a display; and displaying the image data on the display.” However, U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,006 does not disclose or suggest anything regarding display of a series of stop-action still images, or depth of field and shutter speed temporal effects information.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide for an improved digital camera and method that provides for accurate preview capabilities.